Rayan hurried toward the bookstore, his mind occupied by a single troubling thought.
Please tell me Ran hasn't bought half the bookstore.
He could already imagine the scene.
Ran standing proudly beside a mountain of books.
The shopkeeper counting gold coins.
And him, standing there like a fool, wondering whether he should sell himself to pay the bill.
No, no. I must stop thinking about it. Perhaps my shadow has successfully convinced her to buy only the necessary books.
He smiled faintly.
Then—
Crack!
Rayan stopped.
The smile vanished from his face.
A sharp sensation passed through his mind, as though something connected to his very soul had suddenly been struck.
His shadow.
One of the thin shadows he had left behind had been damaged.
Rayan's expression changed instantly.
Someone attacked my shadow?
His first thought was that something had gone wrong at the bookstore.
But when he focused on the connection, he realized the location was different.
Not the bookstore.
A nearby alley.
A narrow, dark passage between two old buildings, far enough from the busy street that people could easily pass by without noticing anything happening inside.
And Ran was there.
Rayan didn't hesitate.
He turned and ran.
His footsteps struck the stone pavement as he rushed through the streets. People moved aside, surprised by the sudden burst of speed from a young man who had seemed perfectly relaxed only moments earlier.
Rayan barely noticed them.
His mind was fixed on the faint connection with his shadow.
Hold on.
Just hold on a little longer.
He had left that shadow behind to help Ran.
It was supposed to be enough to keep her safe while he stepped away for a short time.
He had thought there was nothing to worry about.
He had been wrong.
As Rayan approached the alley, he heard a woman's frightened voice.
"Don't come any closer!"
Ran.
Rayan's heart tightened.
He turned into the alley.
And what he saw made the world around him seem to grow terribly quiet.
Ran stood against the wall, her face pale. Her hands trembled as she clutched the books she had bought.
In front of her stood his shadow.
Its dark body had spread across the ground, forming a protective barrier between Ran and a man holding a knife.
One of the shadow's arms was damaged. Its edges flickered and broke apart like smoke being torn by a violent wind.
Yet it refused to move.
Every time the man tried to approach Ran, the shadow positioned itself between them.
The man clicked his tongue in irritation.
"What kind of ridiculous thing is this?"
He raised his knife and slashed again.
The shadow twisted aside, but the blade caught its arm.
Its form shuddered.
Behind it, Ran squeezed her eyes shut.
"Stop! Please!"
The man laughed.
"Then stop hiding behind that strange thing and come with me quietly!"
Rayan stopped at the entrance.
For a single moment, he couldn't move.
He saw Ran's trembling shoulders.
He saw the fear in her eyes.
He saw his shadow, damaged and flickering, still trying to protect her.
And suddenly, another memory surfaced in his mind.
A memory of helplessness.
Of being unable to protect someone when it mattered.
Of watching something precious slip beyond his reach while he could do nothing but regret it afterward.
He had been given another chance at life.
A new world.
A new family.
People who smiled when he returned home. People who worried when he was late. People who trusted him enough to walk beside him without fear.
And Ran was one of them.
She had grown up beside him. She had studied with him, trained with him, argued with him, and shared countless ordinary days with him.
She was not merely someone traveling with him.
She was someone he could not bear to lose.
Not again.
His fingers curled into fists.
I won't lose someone precious to me again.
The fear inside him didn't disappear.
It changed.
The trembling helplessness became anger.
Cold, sharp anger that seemed to sink into his bones.
The man raised his knife once more.
Rayan moved.
"HEY!"
The shout echoed through the narrow alley.
The man turned.
Too late.
Rayan crossed the distance in an instant and drove his fist into the man's face.
THUD!
The man's head snapped sideways. He staggered backward, crashing into a pile of empty wooden crates.
Rayan's fist struck the knife as well. The blade scraped across his knuckles, opening a shallow cut.
Pain flashed through his hand.
He barely noticed.
The man spat blood and stared at Rayan in disbelief.
"You little—!"
Rayan stepped forward.
"Ran. Get out of the alley."
His voice was low, but there was no room for argument.
Ran looked at him.
"Rayan..."
"Go."
For once, she didn't argue.
She understood the seriousness of the situation. Her eyes moved from the knife to Rayan's bleeding hand, then to the shadow standing protectively before her.
She swallowed and hurried toward the street.
But before she disappeared around the corner, she looked back.
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"Be careful!"
Rayan didn't turn around.
"I will."
He watched until he was certain she had reached the street.
Only then did he face the man again.
Unfortunately, the first man wasn't alone.
Two more men emerged from the deeper end of the alley.
One was broad-shouldered, with a scar running down his cheek. The other carried a short iron rod.
The man Rayan had punched wiped his mouth and glared at him.
"You bastard! Do you know who you're dealing with?"
The broad-shouldered man looked at Rayan, then at his injured companion.
"What happened?"
"That girl has some strange ability! And this brat attacked me!"
The third man snorted.
"Three against one, and you still got punched? You're getting old."
"Shut up!"
Rayan listened to their conversation without speaking.
Three men.
One knife.
One iron rod.
And a narrow alley that made it difficult to maneuver.
He could hear the distant sounds of the town beyond the walls. People were walking, merchants were calling out to customers, and somewhere nearby, someone was laughing.
The ordinary world continued as though nothing had happened.
Rayan looked at the three men.
His damaged shadow slowly gathered at his feet.
He could still feel the faint disturbance left by the knife attack.
The shadow had been created from his own power. It wasn't a separate person, but its connection to him made its suffering feel strangely personal.
And it had been protecting Ran.
Even after being damaged.
Rayan took a slow breath.
Then he spoke.
"You made the biggest mistake of your lives."
The three men exchanged glances.
The scarred man laughed.
"Listen to him! Does the little noble want to frighten us?"
Rayan raised his eyes.
His expression was calm.
"You hurt someone precious to me."
His voice dropped lower.
"And I don't forgive that."
The scarred man frowned.
Something about the boy's expression made him uncomfortable.
But he quickly dismissed the feeling.
"Break his legs!"
The man with the iron rod charged first.
Rayan didn't retreat.
Instead, his shadow disappeared.
For a fraction of a second, the ground beneath the three men looked completely ordinary.
Then the darkness behind them rose.
Three long, black tendrils shot upward from the shadows cast by their own bodies.
Before they could react, the tendrils struck their backs.
BAM!
The three men stumbled forward.
Rayan was already waiting.
He pivoted and delivered a powerful kick to the first man's head, sending him crashing onto the stone pavement.
The second man tried to regain his balance, but Rayan's shadow wrapped around his ankle and yanked.
The man fell face-first.
The third swung his iron rod wildly.
Rayan ducked beneath the strike.
The rod whistled over his head.
Rayan drove his elbow into the man's stomach, forcing the air from his lungs, then struck him across the jaw.
The man staggered.
A shadowy hand emerged from the wall beside him and slammed into his side.
He crashed against the stones.
For a moment, all three men lay on the ground, groaning.
Rayan stood in the center of the alley.
His breathing was slightly heavier now.
The cut on his hand continued to bleed.
But he didn't look at it.
He looked at the men.
"That was your warning."
The man with the knife struggled to his feet.
His face twisted with humiliation.
"You little monster!"
He lunged forward, thrusting the blade toward Rayan's stomach.
Rayan shifted aside.
The knife passed close enough to brush his clothes.
Before the man could pull it back, Rayan's shadow caught his wrist.
The darkness tightened.
The man's fingers opened involuntarily.
The knife dropped.
Rayan caught it.
For an instant, the man stared at the weapon in Rayan's hand.
Then he saw the expression on the boy's face.
His confidence finally broke.
"W-Wait..."
Rayan struck him across the side of the head with the back of his hand.
The man fell.
The other two immediately tried to crawl away.
They had expected an ordinary young man.
Perhaps a merchant's son.
Perhaps a foolish student who would panic when confronted by three adults.
They had never imagined that the boy they had attacked would turn the entire alley into a battlefield controlled by darkness.
Rayan watched them struggle.
His heart was still beating hard.
His hands were trembling.
Not from fear of them.
From the thought of what might have happened if he had arrived a few moments later.
What if my shadow had broken?
What if Ran had been alone?
What if I had reached the alley and found her lying there instead?
His throat tightened.
For one horrible instant, he imagined returning to the hotel without her.
Explaining to his family that he had failed to protect her.
Seeing the disappointment and grief in their faces.
And knowing that all his power had meant nothing when it mattered most.
His fingers tightened around the knife.
No.
Never.
He approached the three men.
The shadow beneath them began to move.
One of the men raised his hands.
"Please! We didn't know she was with you!"
Rayan stopped.
Then he looked down at him.
"Would that have made a difference?"
The man opened his mouth.
No answer came.
"Would you have left her alone if you had known she was important to me?"
The man swallowed.
Rayan's voice became colder.
"You would have chosen a different target. That's all."
He crouched beside them.
"Listen carefully. I'm letting you leave this alley alive."
Hope appeared in their eyes.
Then Rayan continued.
"Not because I'm afraid of you."
The hope vanished.
"Not because I pity you."
He leaned forward.
"I'm letting you go because I want you to remember this day."
His gaze moved from one face to another.
"I want you to remember the fear you felt when you realized you couldn't win. I want you to remember that the person you attacked had someone who would come looking for her."
The shadows around their legs stirred.
"And I want you to understand that if you ever come near her again, I will find you."
His voice was almost a whisper.
"I will hunt you down."
The men began to tremble.
"Every day, you will wonder whether I'm watching you. Every time you turn a corner, you'll wonder if I'm standing behind you. Every time you close your eyes, you'll remember this alley."
Rayan's expression didn't change.
"And one day, when you finally convince yourselves that you've escaped me..."
He paused.
"I'll come back."
The broad-shouldered man tried to crawl away.
Rayan's shadow caught his leg.
The man's scream echoed through the alley as the darkness twisted around his ankle and wrenched it violently.
The other two froze.
Rayan looked at them.
"I told you."
His anger had not disappeared.
It had become something more controlled, more deliberate.
He wasn't fighting because he wanted to prove he was stronger.
He was fighting because the thought of losing Ran had awakened something inside him that he had spent years trying to keep buried.
He had promised himself that this life would be different.
That he would grow stronger.
That he would protect the people he cared about.
And now he understood something.
Strength wasn't only about defeating powerful enemies or commanding an army of undead.
Sometimes, it meant arriving in time.
Sometimes, it meant standing between someone precious and the danger threatening them.
And sometimes, it meant making sure that danger never returned.
Rayan used the shadow to restrain the three men and incapacitate them. Their attempts to fight back ended in screams and desperate pleas as the darkness twisted around their limbs, leaving them unable to stand.
When they finally stopped resisting, Rayan stood.
He looked at the blood on his hand.
Only then did he notice how badly his knuckles stung.
He exhaled slowly.
Grandpa would probably lecture me for losing control.
A bitter smile touched his lips.
He can lecture me later.
Rayan took the knife and slipped it into his shadow space.
Then he glanced at the three men one final time.
"Remember what I said."
He turned away.
The shadows withdrew from the walls and pavement, returning to their ordinary shapes.
Before leaving, Rayan wiped the blood from his hand with a handkerchief. He kept his movements careful and deliberate, making sure that he wouldn't leave an obvious trail behind him.
He had no intention of letting a passing stranger discover what had happened and accidentally become involved.
The three men would have to deal with the consequences of their own actions. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Rayan stepped out of the alley.
Ran was waiting nearby.
She stood beside the corner of a building, clutching her books tightly against her chest.
The moment she saw him, she rushed forward.
"Rayan!"
She stopped in front of him, her eyes immediately finding the blood on his hand.
"Your hand! You're hurt!"
"It's nothing."
"Nothing? You're bleeding!"
She grabbed his wrist before he could hide it.
Her fingers trembled.
Rayan looked at her.
Only a few minutes ago, she had been the one trembling in fear.
Now she was worried about him.
Something inside his chest loosened.
"Ran."
She looked up.
"I'm fine."
"But—"
"I'm really fine."
He gave her a small smile.
"They won't bother us again."
Ran stared at him for a moment.
Then her eyes lowered.
"I'm sorry."
Rayan blinked.
"What?"
"If I hadn't stopped in that alley..." She tightened her grip on her books. "If I had noticed them earlier, you wouldn't have had to fight."
Rayan's smile disappeared.
He reached out and gently placed his uninjured hand on her head.
"Don't apologize."
"But—"
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Ran fell silent.
Rayan looked directly into her eyes.
"They chose to hurt you. That's their fault, not yours."
Her lips trembled.
For a moment, she looked as though she might cry.
Rayan felt an uncomfortable pressure in his chest.
He wasn't good at dealing with tears.
In his previous life, he had learned to hide his emotions behind indifference and humor. It was easier to pretend that nothing mattered than to risk caring about something he might lose.
But this life was different.
Ran mattered.
His family mattered.
And that was precisely why the thought of losing them frightened him so much.
He gently patted her head again.
"I'm here, aren't I?"
Ran nodded slowly.
"So don't worry. We'll get through this together."
She looked at his injured hand once more.
"Still... you should let me treat that."
Rayan glanced at the shallow cut.
"All right."
"And don't say it's nothing."
"All right."
"And don't hide injuries from me."
"All right."
Ran narrowed her eyes.
"You're agreeing too quickly. Are you actually listening?"
Rayan gave her a tired smile.
"Honestly? I'm mostly wondering how many books you bought."
Ran froze.
Her face turned red.
"Rayan!"
"There she is."
He laughed softly.
The sound was small, but it helped ease the tension that had settled between them.
Ran puffed out her cheeks.
"You're unbelievable! I was worried about you!"
"And I'm worried about the financial future of our little traveling group."
"I only bought the books we need!"
"How many?"
"..."
"Ran."
"...A reasonable number."
"Define reasonable."
She looked away.
Rayan sighed.
At least she's arguing with me again.
For the first time since sensing the damage to his shadow, he felt that he could breathe normally.
He took the books from her and carried them in his uninjured hand.
"Come on. Let's return to the hotel."
Ran nodded and walked beside him.
After a few steps, she quietly reached for his sleeve.
Rayan glanced at her hand.
She didn't look up.
She simply held on.
He didn't tease her.
He allowed her to keep holding his sleeve as they walked back through the busy streets of Gazan Island.
Neither of them noticed the figure watching from a distant rooftop.
Somewhere Else
A little girl with light-blue hair sat on the edge of a rooftop, her legs swinging lazily above the street.
Her oversized coat fluttered in the breeze.
Beside her stood a beautiful undead woman, perfectly still, waiting for her mistress's instructions.
The little girl had watched everything.
From the moment Rayan entered the alley to the moment he left with Ran.
Her eyes curved into a smile.
"How interesting."
She rested her chin in her palm.
"So young, yet he already understands how precious it is to protect someone."
The undead woman beside her tilted her head slightly.
"Should I investigate the men, Lady Seraphina?"
Seraphina Veyr, the Witch of Death, shook her head.
"No need. They'll be found soon enough."
She looked toward the street where Rayan and Ran had disappeared.
For a moment, the playful expression on her face faded.
She had seen countless necromancers throughout her long life.
Talented children.
Ambitious nobles.
Cold-hearted geniuses who treated the undead as nothing more than tools.
She had watched people gain power and lose themselves in it.
But Rayan had reacted differently.
The moment he discovered that someone had threatened Ran, his entire demeanor had changed.
His anger had been frightening, but beneath it lay something far more interesting.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear of losing someone he cared about.
Seraphina smiled again.
"Power can be taught. Techniques can be learned. Even talent can be cultivated."
She swung her feet.
"But the things a person is willing to protect..."
Her eyes gleamed.
"Those reveal who they truly are."
The undead woman waited silently.
Seraphina rose to her feet and brushed a speck of dust from her coat.
"I wonder what kind of necromancer you'll become, Rayan Zu."
Her smile widened.
"The academy might be far more entertaining this year than I expected."
She turned toward the distant academy grounds.
"And Evelyne is going to have quite a surprise when she learns that I've already met one of her future classmates."
Seraphina paused.
Then she giggled.
"Although, if she finds out I was eating ice cream again, she'll probably lecture me for an hour."
She shuddered dramatically.
"Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying."
The Witch of Death hurried toward the stairs.
Behind her, the undead woman followed in perfect silence.
And somewhere in the streets below, Rayan continued walking toward the hotel with Ran beside him, unaware that the most powerful necromancer in the world had just become even more interested in his future.
The Royal Necromancer Academy had not even opened its gates yet.
And Rayan was already making trouble.